The new Ole's Guacamole

 Black Mountain Ole's Guacamole, one of my favorite restaurants, was eaten alive by Flat Creek on Sept. 27 thanks to unnamed storm and Hurricane Helene. The creek usually flows back where the trees are.

Even more unfortunate for the owners, their Asheville location was also flooded by these storms. Asheville Regional Airport recorded 14.19 inches of rain from Helene and the two days preceding the storm, according to the National Weather Service.

There was a catering location which had, in the last year, been purchased by the family. So they cleared out all the furniture in the old Ole's and worked to turn this new building into an Ole's - and they were  able to open it last week.

Of course my friends and I had to go support them, and enjoy a meal made just they way they always had at the other location. Without many tourists this fall, the  restaurants and other shops depend upon the locals to keep going. I'm afraid many will close their doors by January.

We found parking right near the door. This building once had been another Mexican style restaurant, but it had closed several years ago.

Seating was on new booths, but the tables that were very similar to those that had been in the old restaurant. Perhaps a good cleaning was all they needed.

A large group of police persons were enjoying their lunch. 

Directly next door on US 70 are the remains of the Coach House Restaurant. Apparently they had a lot of damage from the flood, as there is a little creek which overflowed between both the buildings, probably behind that fence on the right. It's strange that it had so much damage when the "new Ole's" didn't. But it could be because of the way it was constructed...I don't know.

No I didn't have anything great to eat, just a taco salad with grilled shrimp. When I order something special I'll share with you.

Hang in there and be like Snoopy!

Today's inspirational words:

Fear of the future can paralyze us, but we can allow it to unfold easily when we keep to the present moment.

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A Harvest of People, also known as the Vegetable Prayer.

From Rev. Max Coots:

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:

For children who are our second planting, and,

though they grow like weeds and

the wind too soon blows them away,

may they forgive us our cultivation

and fondly remember where their roots are.

Let us give thanks for generous friends,

with hearts, and smiles as bright as their blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers,

keep reminding us that we’ve had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants

and as elegant as a row of corn,

and the others, as plain as potatoes and as good for you;

For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts and

as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends,

as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages,

as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley,

as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and

who, like parsnips, can be counted on

to see you throughout the winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening time,

and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils

and hold us,

despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;

And, finally, for those friends now gone,

like gardens past that have been harvested,

and who fed us in their times

that we might have life thereafter;

For all these we give thanks.